Canada’s largest drilling association is asking for your respect.

At a time when many workers have lost their jobs, the Canadian Association of Oilwell Drilling Contractors is launching a nationwide advocacy effort calling for industry recognition.

Through its Oil Respect campaign, CAODC will tour across the country to seek grassroots support from the public for its members and for Canada’s energy industry as a whole while also pushing for political and economic support from government officials.

The Struggle Is Real

According to CAODC President Mark Scholz, Statistics Canada  reports 100,000 people have lost their jobs in Canada’s oil and gas industry. In its report, Financial Post notes that this number represents a sizable increase from the industry’s previous layoff estimate of 40,000.

“Annual revenues in 2014 were $150 billion dollars but in 2015 revenues were reduced to $90 billion, which would be the same as losing the entire auto sector from the Canadian economy in just one year,” he said, according to the Financial Post.

Nevertheless, the oil and gas industry, either directly or indirectly, still supports the jobs of 500,000 people, Scholz added.

CAODC is calling on industry supporters to sign online petitions in favor of two ideas: to get the provincial government in Alberta to deem February 13, 2017, “Oil and Gas Awareness Day” and to garner governmental support for a national pipeline.

“We are not asking for a government handout, but we are asking for an honest discussion and we are asking for respect for an industry that has done so much to make Canada the best country in the world,” Scholz said.

Goal of Gaining Respect

Scholz and CAODC hope the campaign will result in the industry and its workers gaining the respect they deserve.

“Oil Respect is about respect for the facts, respect for workers, respect for the environment, and respect for an industry that has done so much to provide Canadians with jobs, funding for government services, and a higher standard of living,” Scholz said in a CAODC news release.

The association is emphasizing the economic power of the industry and the contributions that it makes to the country while reminding citizens of the ordinary people who are struggling without jobs today.

With that in mind, CAODC is kicking off the campaign on February 25 with an event at the Red Deer Chamber of Commerce in Alberta. Several other events with Scholz and members will follow in the next few months.

“We are calling on fair-minded Canadians and our elected representatives to acknowledge these facts and to recognize the contribution this industry makes to Canada,” Scholz told 660 News.

(iStock/Thinkstock)